TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan and China will cooperate in a $300
million project to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from a
thermal power plant, a Japanese daily reported on Saturday.

Under the plan of the project, emitted carbon dioxide from
a thermal power plant will be injected into a major Chinese oil
field to extract more crude oil, the Nikkei business daily
said.

The project, set to start next year, will involve
investments from Japanese companies such as Toyota Motor Corp
and plant engineering firm JGC Corp, Nikkei said.

From China, entities such as China National Petroleum Corp
and major power generator China Huadian Corp are expected to
take part in the project.

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The cost is estimated to total about 20-30 billion yen
($190-$285 million), but details on how the costs will be
shared have yet to be determined, the daily said.

The two countries are expected to sign an accord on the
project next week when Chinese President Hu Jintao visits
Japan. Hu's five-day trip from Tuesday will be his longest
state visit to any one country since he became president in
2003.

Nikkei said carbon dioxide from a coal-fired power plant in
Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province in northeast
China, will be transported to Daqing oil field, located about
100 kilometers west of the plant.

The plant emits more than 1 million tonnes of CO2 a year.
Daqing produces about 40 million tonnes per year of crude oil,
the daily said.

CO2 will be used to make crude oil more liquid and easier
to extract, resulting in an increase in output in Daqing of
about 1.5-2 million tonnes a year, Nikkei said.

CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants into the
atmosphere can be reduced to essentially zero by using the
technology, Nikkei said.

Kyodo news agency, quoting government sources, reported on
Friday that the two countries will agree to strengthen ties in
global warming in developing advanced environmental technology.

Kyodo said China will take notice of Japan's proposal for
the world to halve greenhouse gases by 2050 and the world's No.
2 emitter was studying measures to help Japan achieve the goal.

Japan, the world's fifth largest emitter, is set to host
the Group of Eight summit in July.

Climate change is expected to be at the top of the summit
agenda, with countries across the world working on a new
framework to cut global carbon emission beyond the 2012 expiry
of the Kyoto Protocol.

Japan is promoting the concept of sectoral emission targets
for industry, but Europe and some developing nations have
questioned the concept.